This application was heard before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board ("NSUARB").

Nova Scotia Power Inc. ("NSPI) applied to the NSUARB for an approval that would allow it to receive provincial funding to assist with the refurbishment of the Tusket River dam. The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs ("ANSMC") and Acadia First Nation were Intervenors in the proceedings before the NSUARB, and they opposed the approval, arguing that the provincial government had not met its duty to consult Mi'kmaq about the proposed refurbishment.

The NSUARB had to determine whether it had the jurisdiction to assess the Crown's duty to consult. After analyzing the scope of its own jurisdiction, the NSUARB held that it had the authority and the responsibility to decide whether the provincial government had met its duty to consult. The NSUARB then turned to consider that question, and, ultimately, it held that the provincial government had not met its duty. For that reason, the NSUARB suspended NSP's application until appropriate consultation was carried out.

Further issues relating to the Tusket River refurbishment project came before the NSUARB again in Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (Re), 2019 NSUARB 11, and Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (Re), 2019 NSUARB 35.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsuarb/doc/2018/2018nsuarb154/2018nsuarb154.html

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